


then there was you

by sapantaha



Category: Keyakizaka46 (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26268568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapantaha/pseuds/sapantaha
Summary: Every single day is a routine for Akane; until she locked eyes with someone on the bus on her way to work.From that point forward, she slowly learnt how to be happy again.
Relationships: Moriya Akane/Sugai Yuuka, Nagahama Neru/Watanabe Risa
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	1. the day they meet

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by heel no takasa mv

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akane crosses paths with a mysterious girl.

One

It has been a year ever since Akane started following a boring routine: wake up, fix herself, go to work, do some paperwork for eight hours [or ten, if they’re about to go over the deadline], take a bus home, eat dinner [or when she has nothing to eat, she cleans her apartment to drain out her energy so she could sleep the hunger away], and sleep. If someone was to ask her if she was okay with the life she’s living right now, she would answer that "as long as she could make ends meet, it's enough for her". However, deep in her mind, she knows that if she could do something to make everything better, she’ll definitely grab that chance.

Despite her distaste in her current job, Akane knows full well that she has to endure­. At least that was what she was taught–and what she ended up believing­–of what an adult should do.

Just like the rest of her workdays in the past year, the office girl finds herself squeezing her body in whatever space she could find amid the sea of people. No matter how early she goes to work, the rush hour never failed to catch up to her. Akane does not enjoy the smell of dried sweat from those on their way home after their night shifts; especially because she put extra effort into looking fresh for work [although it was not really necessary since for her officemates, she’s just a mere co-worker].

After what seemingly felt like a war, Akane manages to get herself a seat on the bus. She glances at the time on her wristwatch and a sigh of relief escapes her lips. Her struggle was worth it for she could still make it on time at work.

Again, in her one year in this shabby–as she would describe–job, Akane tried her best to be admirable. As someone who made it a principle to stick to the rules, being punctual and delivering what was asked from her was an easy thing to do. She deemed it more of a personality trait than a responsibility–a mere attempt to not put too much pressure unto herself. And, despite her not giving it much thought, it has become a distraction so she would not dare regret her choices in life.

Suddenly, what felt like a pair of eyes fixed on her disturbed Akane’s train of thoughts. She looked over to where the eerie feeling was coming from and her eyes met with a girl just behind the driver’s seat. The stranger’s jet-black hair drops over her shoulders with some strands falling on her face and her eyes softly gazed at Akane. They continued to look into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity until the other girl gave out a small smile­–which Akane notes as somewhat crooked–and the office worker looked away, avoiding any sort of interaction with the stranger.

Eight hours flew by with Akane finishing her designated tasks for the day. She stands up from her cubicle as she stretched out her arms. She could feel some of her muscles be relieved, but some pain still lingers in her back. She bids goodbye to her officemates, which she talks to from time to time, before picking up her bag and leaving the office. Taking another bus home, the commute was somewhat more peaceful than earlier. She gets off on her stop but, instead of heading straight home, Akane felt like going out of her way into what she considers her safe place.

A few blocks away from her apartment stands an abandoned building that used to be a café she regularly visited as a student. It was a pity that the place had to shut down, but the shop was not able to keep the hype that it had when it first opened. As the months went by, Akane found herself the only customer; and, this allowed her to be close with its owner­–back when she wasn’t hostile with strangers. With that, even after years of being a rundown building, the owner never really thought about selling it­–all because, Akane was able to convince them that if they ever decide to open another shop, at least they already have a building; and, the decision was also affected by Akane’s promise to buy it and turn it into her personal studio when she starts making films. Looking back, Akane feels bad for her young self­–that girl really thought she had a bright future ahead of her. Too bad, life never really lets you do everything as planned.

As she went up into the second floor, which some would consider a ‘rooftop’, but she does not think that’s how it really works, a smile slowly forms across her face. A rush of comfort starts to envelop her as she made her way to the bench, whose backrest is on the ground. Akane inhales the familiarity as a soft breeze blows and she lets her hazel hair dance with it. She carefully sits on the bench, not bothering to bring it upright. With the bench’s weird position, Akane looks like she’s lying down on the ground with her legs hanging from the seat of the bench. She closes her eyes and it felt like she was floating in the middle of the sea. She hasn’t felt this sort of peace in a long time.

Akane then hears shuffling from her right side which made her freeze. Before she could react, she hears a soft voice, “It’s not safe to be alone in this dark place.”

She turns her head towards the direction of the voice and the face of the stranger from the bus greets her. Akane alerted herself and she was about to get up when the stranger ran to her and proceeded to lay down beside her. Honestly, she wants to slowly make her way out and run as fast as she could because what if the girl was a stalker? What if she gets killed? Sure, she’s not really satisfied with her life­–regardless of how much she convinces herself that she is–but, she is not dissatisfied to the point that she wants to end everything. Fairly, Akane still has a glimpse of hope that she could turn her life around, one way or another. She believes that she could still get back on track; it’s just that, the ‘right time’ hasn’t come yet.

As Akane was about to roll away, the stranger speaks again, “Stay,” she stops for a while, “I’m not a bad guy, I swear,” she assures. Akane finds herself letting her guard down. She keeps in her mind that if things get messy, she’ll rely on the strength she built from her years’ worth of training as a tennis athlete. She tries to utter a word–anything that could hopefully drive the stranger away–but air only brushes her lips.

Silence falls upon the two of them. Soon after, the stranger talks again, “If it makes you feel any better, my name’s Sugai Yuuka. You could call me Yuuka, I wouldn’t mind,” the stranger Yuuka introduced herself and Akane hesitated to do the same but then again, she could use brawn if ever the situation gets ugly. She clears her throat, “Moriya Akane,” she feels Yuuka’s gaze on her upon that short introduction, so she decides to add a few words, “I don’t really know you, so you ought to call me Moriya,” she hears the girl beside her chuckle, “Sure,” Yuuka nods, “Moriya- _san_.”

For some reason, Akane’s heart seemed to skip a beat. She thinks that it might be because no one has really called her name for quite some time. In the office, she never really found herself interacting with her co-workers. Those who she would talk to sometimes address her as ‘hey’ or call her attention by tapping on her shoulder. All of this was a result of Akane confining herself in a bubble ever since she entered college. When she was a freshman, Akane slowly built a wall around herself. After she graduated, she kept the same wall standing, gradually increasing its height so that no one could pass through nor go over it. At that moment, she was convinced that she has reached the point in life where every relationship with other people does not lead to friendship; she thought that having acquaintances suited her better.

Akane was pulled away from her thoughts by a light shake of her shoulder. She remembers that there was a stranger beside her–who did introduce herself, but that doesn’t make her any less of a stranger–that she has been ignoring. She looked over to Yuuka only to see the other girl pout; it looked off, in Akane’s opinion, but she still finds it a little cute.

“It’s not really polite to not listen to someone when they’re talking, you know,” Yuuka reprimands her but Akane stays quiet.

Yuuka clears her throat, “I’m _technically_ older than you, too,” she emphasizes on the word ‘technically’ which brings Akane to raise her brow, “And you’re sure of that because?”

“I just know it,” Yuuka smiles–the very same smile Akane saw on the bus that morning. Not wanting to lengthen the conversation–as the night started to get deeper and she has to go home soon–Akane decides to keep quiet and just let the other girl keep speaking if she wants. Her words would enter Akane’s left ear and exit on the other anyway.

Thinking that the ‘younger’ girl finally decided to listen to her, Yuuka repeats what she’s been saying. As Yuuka starts to talk about her life, Akane realized that she starts taking in every information like a sponge. She learns that Yuuka was usually called a princess because of her lavish lifestyle. Fortunately, her family wasn’t the stereotypical upper-class family that dramas and movies would portray; she had a happy childhood, her parents always found time to spend a day or two with her. And when Yuuka started mentioning her love for horses, her talking sped up, making it hard for Akane to catch up but she could care less. With that, Yuuka’s slurred speech became evident to Akane and it made listening harder.

Knowing that it has been hours since she got to her safe place, Akane raises her arm to have a better view of her wristwatch. She quietly gets up, “I have to go now,” Akane thought that it was a basic courtesy to say that, even if it was addressed to a stranger (yes, Akane still considers Yuuka as a stranger even though the latter pretty much told her everything about her life). “See you again,” Yuuka quietly answers, much like a whisper, yet Akane’s ears still managed to catch it.

Akane was about to go down the stairs when she stopped on her tracks. She looked over her shoulders to see Yuuka–who is still in the same position when Akane left her­–raising her hands as if trying to reach for the sky. She doesn’t know why but Akane felt kind of worried leaving Yuuka alone, so she speaks, “I’ll really get going now. It’s getting late,” Akane remembers what Yuuka said to her earlier, “It’s not safe to be alone in this dark place.”

From where she was standing, Akane could hear Yuuka’s soft chuckle. She thought that the other girl would stand up after that remark but Yuuka didn’t move a muscle. Instead, she turned her head towards Akane and looked straight into her eyes, “I am not afraid that such darkness exists,” she says and, all of a sudden, Akane felt her nails digging into her palm upon hearing that familiar phrase. She shrugs it off and proceeds to walk away.

Two

Akane arrives at her apartment and she gets a whiff of the dull scent of living alone as she opens the door. She removes her high heels that she wore all day; her feet still getting sore even after one year of constantly wearing them. She walks over the bean bag in the middle of what was supposed to be the living room in her small studio apartment. Akane did not bother buying a lot of furniture, despite the never-ending reminder of her mother and offers from her father to shoulder the expenses. The Moriya family is actually a middle-class family and Akane doesn’t really have to go this far to make herself a living since she could basically live off her parents’ fortune. However, she made it a promise to herself that she ought to be independent after college; and, to be fair, college senior Akane never really thought things would spiral out of control post-college. What’s really keeping her from asking some sort of help to improve her life a little is the pride that she developed during her days as an athlete. Her training gave her the discipline that she has today, but it also planted a high pride deep within her, which she sometimes denies herself. Before she could drift away in her thoughts and end up sleeping late, Akane gets up to take a quick shower before sleeping in. She wraps herself in her blanket and Yuuka’s face suddenly flashes in front of her as soon as she closes her eyes–but, she does not give it much thought.

The morning that followed was pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday’s: the bus stop felt like a battlefield, but Akane made sure that she would win it. Finally getting a seat by the aisle, her eyes unconsciously look around in hopes of seeing _someone_. As she looked in front, there she saw Yuuka–behind the driver’s seat again–smiling at her. With a little hint of acquaintanceship, Akane smiles back. Even with being stern about keeping her wall up and not hanging out with strangers, she finds herself wanting to talk to Yuuka until she reaches her stop. She was about to stand up to see if the seat beside Yuuka is empty, but she was stopped by familiar voices who called out her name.

“Nen?”

Hearing that nickname tugged at Akane’s heartstrings. It has been a long time since someone addressed her as that. She looked at the two figures in front of her, who got pushed so they proceeded to take the vacant seats beside her.

“You still remember us, don’t you?” the smaller of the two women in front of her asked. Of course, she recognizes them. Before Akane could reply, the other woman talked in a hushed tone, “Neru, it will be embarrassing if she turns out to be someone that looks a lot like Nen.”

Akane smiles upon seeing that the two did not really change that much. To dismiss their doubts, she cleared her throat, “It _is_ me. It’s been a while, Risa, Neru,” her smile grows wide and it turns into high school Akane’s signature gummy smile. She watches as the worry and hesitation in Risa’s face change into relief and happiness; and Neru’s cheeks puff up as she grinned from ear to ear.

It has been years since the three last saw each other. Back in high school, they were inseparable, and every student pretty much knew who they were: Neru, known for her dedication and brains, graduated as valedictorian; Risa, who barely smiles, earned the nickname ice princess; and Akane, the star of the soft tennis varsity team. There was another one in their circle named Shida Manaka, but she ended up transferring schools in their junior year, and they lost connection with her since then. Risa and Neru attended the same university [which Akane–and the rest of the student body–found surprising that Risa actually passed] while Akane went to a prestigious film university. In their first two years, they always found a way to meet each other at least once a week; which, gradually turned into twice a month to once a month to never having the chance. On their last year in college, they found themselves not seeing each other anymore, but, being preoccupied with graduation requirements and the senior year in general, it never really bothered them much. However, they failed to keep in touch after college, so they are lucky that fate actually made their paths cross again.

“Are you guys still together?” Akane asks out of curiosity. Sure, she understands that maybe Risa _did_ work hard to pass the entrance examination for Neru; but, most of the relationships that formed in high school barely make it through college–or so she thought.

“Yes,” Risa answers, narrowing her eyes.

“How have you been? We haven’t heard from you in what? Two years or so?” Neru asks, being the caring person that she is.

“Luckily, I managed to land a job a few months after graduation. It’s not really paying much but it’s enough.”

“How many films have you made? If you need help, I could give you my contact and we can start a project of our own!” it’s been long since Akane has seen Risa this excited over something and she hates to wipe it off her face, but it’s not like she could lie to her friends.

“I am not a filmmaker,” she confesses, and Risa gives off a silent ‘oh’ which earned her a hit from Neru’s elbow. Afraid of an ensuing awkward silence, Akane decides to elaborate, “It’ll be a long story and this bus ride wouldn’t be enough, but to summarize it for you guys: basically, I was so anxious that I may end up not having a job for a long time if I just stick with a film-related job so I kind of went over the top with the applications and grabbed the very first thing offered to me,” she looks down, the weight of her reckless decisions pile up on her shoulders again. Akane tried her best to run away from this bitter truth to keep herself from harboring regrets for the rest of her life. Again, she still has this glimmer of hope that things will get better someday.

She feels Neru’s hand on her left shoulder, “You’re still lucky that you have something, Nen,” Neru always finds a way with her words. There was also comfort in her tone that could make Akane’s heavy chest feel at ease. She raises her head and sees Risa holding her fist up which made her break out in a smile. This small gesture brings her back to their high school days; Risa was the complete opposite of Neru–ruining everything with her words–but she was able to get her point across with her actions.

“Enough from me. You have to quickly fill me in with what happened with your lives,” Akane tries to shift the topic.

“Well,” Risa starts in a boasting tone, “Still going stronger than ever,” she continues as she sports her signature smile–one that only a select few were able to see, one that’s always plastered on her face whenever Neru is around.

“There were some shaky times because of her stubbornness, but as you can see, we managed to work our differences out.”

Akane shoots glares at Risa, “How dare you give Neru a hard time, Watanabe?”

Risa scoffs at Akane’s poor attempt at sarcasm, “At least I have someone,” she rebuts while sticking her tongue out. Neru would usually scold the two of them back in high school; but, since they’ve become adults now, seeing the two of them have petty fights like this one is hilarious.

The three of them continued to catch up until Akane reached her stop. Before she got off, they exchanged contacts and as she was about to go down, she suddenly remembered the stranger she put aside when she met her friends. She looked over her shoulder to the back of the driver’s seat only to find a student–that is _not_ Yuuka–cramming their readings.


	2. the day she reconnects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akane reunites with her high school classmates and earns a friend.

Three

As if already programmed to follow a certain routine, Akane spends her office hours doing the same thing as she did the day before–it’s just that she handled different documents today. After an exhausting day at work, she drags her feet to the bus stop. She looks up and sees a faint red and orange gradient across the sky–a view that she took for granted, spending most of her after-school hours training and going home only when she starts hearing the cicadas. She lets out a deep breath. At that moment, a bus comes to a halt and she gets on.

Since the bus doesn’t have many passengers, Akane decided to make her way to the back seats. For her, this is the most peaceful part of the bus since not a lot of people would want to walk to the very back of the bus if there are vacant seats in front. She rests the back of her head on the seat and she was about to doze off when she felt a piercing gaze on her­–and it felt somehow familiar. Following her senses, Akane’s eyes land on another pair whose owner turns out to be Yuuka. The bus started moving but the ‘older’ girl stood up and carefully walked to where Akane was seated.

“I knew we’ll meet again,” Yuuka says as she sat down, her eyes forming crescents.

Not knowing what or how to reply, Akane nods her head. Yuuka’s expression changes and Akane stares at her to look for answers.

“It’s unfair, you know,” Yuuka crosses her arms and puffs her cheeks. It doesn’t really suit her but Akane thinks the other girl tries to make it her charm. “What’s unfair?” she asks in hopes of clarifying the vague statement.

“You don’t smile at me like you did with those people earlier.”

“They’re my friends.”

“Am I not?”

Akane becomes flustered at the sudden question. It _should_ be easy to say no because she just met Yuuka and she still treats her as a stranger, but the words cannot find their way out of her mouth. Yuuka lets out a deep breath before throwing herself on her seat (well, she did jump a little like what children do when their mothers refuse to buy them toys).

“I don’t really think I could call you my fr­–“

“I’m jealous that I can’t see your smile up close,” Yuuka turned her head to look at the girl she just cut off, “You look more beautiful smiling like that,” her voice deepened and Akane finds herself getting lost in Yuuka’s dark eyes.

The air suddenly thinned out for Akane; and, the air-conditioning of the bus seemed faulty since she started feeling hot. On top of this, she felt her cheeks burning. She immediately turned her head to the other direction, leaving Yuuka with a confused look.

After a few minutes of silence, the still bothered Akane felt poking on her right arm. She lets Yuuka keep attempting to get her attention as she believes she is _not_ obliged to give in because–as she keeps repeating in her mind–Yuuka is a stranger.

Realizing that the other girl would keep on ignoring her, Yuuka decides to pull some nerves, “Nen,” she calls out as she remembers it’s what Akane’s so-called friends referred to her. Her plan seemed to work as a seemingly annoyed Akane faced her, “We aren’t close so call me Moriya,” Yuuka notes the seriousness in her tone, but she wants to play for a while.

“I don’t want to.”

“Weren’t you taught some respect?”

“Same question to you, Nen.”

“Moriya.”

“I prefer to call you Nen.”

“In case you didn’t understand what I told you before, I’m going to repeat it: only my friends call me that.”

“Then make me your friend. Being your friend has a lot of perks; it’s so unfair you don’t treat me like one,” Yuuka sounded like a child throwing tantrums and Akane starts to wonder why the ‘older’ girl kept on insisting to consider her as a friend.

The last time people were vocal about wanting to be her friend was back in high school.

Star athlete Moriya Akane was seen as cold–not as much as Risa–but that did not really stop people from wanting to get close to her. It might be because–in Neru’s own words–despite her intimidating aura, she still looked more approachable than the so-called ice princess. Even with a lot of her schoolmates trying to shoot their shot to be part of her circle, Akane only considered Neru, Risa, and Manaka as her friends; leaving some of her teammates turned off. Another thing is that after spending years with Akane, her classmates have simply given up trying to break her wall. She has been dubbed as the sergeant–which she actually liked–due to her personality. Despite some of their classmates keeping their distance, there are still some whom Akane would acknowledge as ‘more than acquaintances but less than friends’; and this makes her remember something.

“Nen.”

“Moriya,” Akane corrects.

“It’s easier to call you Nen.”

“Moriya.”

“Nen,” Yuuka insists with a tired voice. Before she could reprehend the other girl, Akane feels­ something heavy fall on her shoulders. She angled her head to get a better view and the first thing she sees is the crown of Yuuka’s head. The small distance between them made it possible for the raven-haired girl’s scent to reach Akane’s nose–a smell that she deemed familiar. The lavender fragrance found a way to resurface her deep-seated memories. As the bus drove its route Akane takes a trip down memory lane.

She reminisces about the time where everything was less complicated. Akane sees herself in her high school uniform–one that she rarely wears once tournament season comes. For some reason, this delusion felt real; which prompted her to slightly move her hand by opening and closing it. She looks up and she’s met with Risa’s eyes; in her peripheral vision, she could see Neru reviewing her notes. She opens her mouth to speak but Risa beats her to it, “Nen, help me prove to Neru that we don’t really have to plan out our future this soon.”

“Risa, leave it,” Neru warns but Risa just glares at her.

“Hear me out,” Risa starts, and she taps Akane’s arm, asking her to listen as well, “Nothing’s really certain. You can’t possibly plan out everything, right?” she then turns to Akane for backup.

Akane was about to talk when she got interrupted again; this time, by Neru. “It’s not about following that plan of action as is but being prepared for what could go wrong.”

“Not everything can be calculated, Neru.”

“Not everything can be winged, Risa,” Neru put down her notebook and Akane knows better than letting this argument persist so before Risa could react, Akane put her arm between the two. The pair then looked at Akane, and the latter scrambles about in her mind, trying to figure out what to say.

“Both of you won’t reach an agreement because you have different personalities so just drop this argument,” she calmly says, but she knows that it would not be that easy. Akane studies both of their reactions: Neru looks convinced; Risa, on the other hand, seems like she wants to argue further.

“Risa, I know that look,” Akane said while narrowing her eyes at the stubborn girl. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Risa lets out a sigh of defeat which gave Akane a reason to smile. Risa put on a disgusted–not really–look in response to Akane’s gummy smile before laying her head down on the latter’s desk.

“Are you like Neru, Nen? Do you have your future planned out, too?” Risa did not raise her head when she spoke, so her voice ended up muffled, but the girl in question was still able to catch what she said. “Kind of,” she answers, and it earns a grunt from Risa and Neru cleared her throat, “But not too far in the future like Neru does. I just know that I want to be a filmmaker, that’s it,” Akane continues.

Risa slightly raises her head–enough to show her eyes and forehead–obviously wanting to hear more. Akane was about to elaborate when the door suddenly opened, revealing their homeroom teacher.

Just before their teacher spoke, Akane suddenly got pulled back to reality. Her eyes flutter open and her senses slowly come back. Her body remembers the added weight on her shoulder, and she looks over to see that Yuuka is still fast asleep. She looked outside and saw that she’s about to reach her stop. She slowly reached out her arm and tapped the girl still stuck in dreamland.

Yuuka gently lifted her head from Akane’s shoulders, eyelids heavy and neck kind of sore. She rubs her eyes before yawning and groaning as she stretched her arms and legs forward. Akane thinks that Yuuka does act like a child most of the time.

“I’m about to get off now,” Akane says to a still drowsy Yuuka who just lazily nodded her head as a reply.

The bus comes to a halt and Akane stands up. The other girl follows her down the bus which brings her confusion. “Do you also live around here?”

While dragging herself to walk, Yuuka used her thumb to point towards the other direction that Akane usually takes on her way home. Before Akane could talk, her stomach started to grumble. Her face reddens out of embarrassment and Yuuka starts to give her a small smile. She wants to run away right now but she remembers that she still hasn’t gone out for groceries and that her fridge only has water in it. Despite living in a bind, Akane still makes sure that she eats properly–a mindset that she had ever since she got sick last month, after starving herself for weeks, and was not able to call in at work for a few days resulting in a reduced pay.

Akane shyly looks down, “Have you eaten?” she asks. Yuuka does not say anything; instead, she takes Akane’s hand and started running down the road. “Wait, I thought your house is in the other direction,” Akane says as she tries to catch up to Yuuka’s brisk walk. “I know a place that you might like,” Yuuka answers, and Akane just let the former take her wherever that is.

After a few minutes of partially running, they arrive at a small bakery. She has always passed by this one every time she’s on her way home, but she doesn’t really pay much attention to it. She looked up to properly read its sign: _Panko_ was written in a somewhat cursive manner and illuminated in white. She tries to wrap her head around why a bakery would be called ‘breadcrumbs’, but she lets go of the thought when she felt Yuuka let her hand go–at that moment, she realized that they were still holding hands–and started walking away. Akane called out to her but Yuuka just raised her right arm and waved goodbye. She was confused but thought the other girl already ate and only wanted to show her this bakery.

Once Yuuka was nearly out of sight, Akane slowly opened the door. The soft chime resonated around the shop–catching the attention of the two women by the counter–and the smell of fresh bread entered Akane’s system. As she looked toward the counter, she recognized two familiar faces. “Moriya?” the shorter of the two women asked, confirming Akane’s thought. She tries to dig up her memories to try and remember their names but her panic of not responding immediately distracts her brain so much that she cannot focus. Assuming that Akane might not remember them, the short girl spoke again, “It’s me, Nagasawa Nanako,” she introduces. Upon hearing the name, Akane instantly remembered the other girl’s name, “Berika!” she said in a loud voice–out of excitement­–while pointing a finger at her. However, the girl she called Berika did not seem amused and she looked like she was saying something. Akane ran towards the counter to hear her better but to no avail.

“She said she prefers that you call her Rika,” Nagasawa says.

“Sorry. I got used to it,” Akane scratches her nape due to the mistake, “How long have you guys worked in this bakery?”

Again, Rika was muttering something under her breath. Akane turns to Nagasawa for help. “She says ever since this bakery was built.”

“We actually own this,” Nagasawa adds and Akane’s face fill with shock. “I didn’t know! I would’ve been a regular if I knew that you guys ran this place.”

“We won’t give you discounts, Moriya.”

Akane chuckles at the formality, “Just call me Akane, Naako.”

Silence falls upon the old classmates and Akane remembers the awkward atmosphere that entails Naako and ~~Berika~~ Rika. She recalls how their other classmates gave up on trying to talk to them to the point that they wish they wouldn’t be grouped with them. They have always been quite reserved; a total opposite from Akane’s circle. Nevertheless, despite of their bashful personalities, the pair were considered harmless.

Akane was about to order when the chime started to ring again. Suddenly, Rika rushed to the kitchen and Naako facepalmed herself, “Here we go again,” Akane hears her whisper. Curious as to why the pair reacted that way, she turned around only to see that the new customers were two more familiar faces.

“Nen!” Neru’s face lights up as she lets go of Risa’s arm before running up to Akane to hug her. The latter returns the hug and sees Risa waving her hand at her. “You come here often?” she asks as she comes near Akane, who shook her head.

With Neru glued on Akane’s arm, Risa proceeded to order for the three of them. As they sat down, Akane spoke, “Did the two of you know that Naako and Rika owned this bakery?”

Upon asking, Akane sees that Risa has a confused expression on her face, “Rika?” she asks back.

“Our old classmate, Watanabe Rika,” she explains hoping that it’ll finally ring a bell. When Risa’s baffled expression got erased on her face, Akane knew that she finally recalled, “Berika!” Risa shouts which confirms that she does remember.

“Call her Rika.”

Naako appears out of nowhere, their food on a tray she’s carrying. “She’s here?” Risa questions and the other girl sighs. After putting down their orders, Naako excused herself before going back into the kitchen. “You didn’t know Rika’s here?” Akane asks and the couple both wrinkled their noses as they pursed their lips. She tells them that she saw Rika by the counter when she entered; in turn, Neru told her that they can be considered regulars in the shop, but not once did they see Rika around.

In the middle of their discussion, Naako comes back, with a tall, hunched figure trying to hide behind her.

Four

Akane, Neru, and Risa stared at their old classmate as she tries to pull the other girl from her back to her side. Naako keeps a straight face as she puts on all of her energy at the unexpected tug-of-war; Rika, on the other hand, was not budging. Accepting defeat, Naako stepped aside and before Rika could hide again, she went behind the taller girl; holding her shoulders to keep her in place. Akane stood up and dragged two more chairs back to their table. She asked the owners to sit down with them to catch up. Rika was about to go back to the kitchen until Akane gave her _the_ look–which brought disgust to both Risa and Neru–that a lot of people would prefer to call _puppy eyes_.

“How come we didn’t know Rika’s a co-owner?” Neru politely asked to break the ice. With three pairs of eyes on her, Rika looked down as she played with her fingers. From that angle, the trio could see that she was speaking but–like always–they couldn’t make out what it was.

“Now’s the time for you to speak up, Pe. I can’t be your spokesperson all of the time. It’s just our old classmates,” Naako says and Rika presses her lips firmly together. “Pe?” Akane wonders at the new nickname. Naako glances at her friend, hoping that she would be the one to explain.

Rika clears her throat–a sound that was way louder than her speaking voice–catching the attention of those around her. “Uhm,” it was quiet but not too much for it to be unintelligible, “Please call me Pe. I like it,” she explains. Rika looks over to Naako. The other three watch them as they exchange words through their eyes. The shorter girl looks like she’s encouraging her gentle friend to keep going.

“Yes, I own this bakery with Naako,” she continues. A deafening silence ensued as they waited for Rika to say more things. When things seemed hopeless, Risa started to speak, “Since when did you go by Pe?”

Rika looked at her with deer-like eyes and, it kind of made Risa feel bad, thinking that her tone might’ve been rude or intimidating. She was about to ask in a more friendly way when Rika started speaking again, “Since high school. We were classmates and it would be confusing if someone would call out Watanabe. I told Naako about it.”

The trio then turned their heads towards Nagasawa, “Wait! Before Risa goes berserk over how much she loathed being called Berisa, I just want to say that no one even asked if Pe had a nickname. Someone just suggested calling them Berika and Berisa and everyone agreed,” she explains with her hands in the air.

Risa narrowed her eyes. She _indeed_ despised being called that nickname, but it’s not like her classmates felt the need to call her anyway. And, it’s also unfair if she blames Rika for it since having the same surname is something out of their control; plus, Naako’s right, no one asked for Rika's opinion.

“Is Pe a play for the ‘be’ in Watanabe?” Neru leaned closer to Rika, her arms almost falling off the edge of the table. The person in question shakes her head, “It’s my cat’s name.”

The answer garnered various reactions: Neru’s face full of disbelief, Risa choking on air, and Akane staring at her waiting for her to say sike­. However, she doesn’t take it back. Honestly, Rika didn’t seem to change much­; she’s still the same peculiar girl from years ago. As much as the trio looked shocked upon hearing the history of her nickname, Naako didn’t seem too stunned–and if Akane was to guess, the latter also didn’t find it weird the first time she learned about it.

As mentioned before, Akane was able to live through high school thanks to her close circle with Neru, Risa, and Manaka; however, there are some of her classmates that she would consider as those who fall between acquaintances and friends–Rika was actually one of those people. From what Akane could remember, her first interaction with Rika was back in junior year. She was preparing for a tournament–as usual–and she let Risa and Neru go home without her. Right after her practice, Akane went back to their classroom to get a book that she left. To her surprise, one of her classmates–the ever-silent Watanabe Rika–was still there, playing with a blue stuffed toy. She wonders if her classmate washes even washes that, but it’s none of her business so Akane proceeds to go to her desk and get the book she forgot. The moment she was about to go out, Rika spoke–the first time Akane ever heard her voice.

“Aoko said you seem like you needed some company.”

“A... oko?”

Rika raises her stuffed toy–Akane just realizing it was a shark–before waving it, “Aoko.”

Akane leans her head to the side, “His name’s Aoko?” she asks in a tone one would usually use in talking with a kid. Rika replies with a nod. Honestly, Akane is amused as to why she even bothered trying to talk to the girl in front of her. Before she could excuse herself to leave, Rika collected her things and stood in front of her. Without saying a word, the silent girl continued staring at her as if waiting for her to say something.

“I-I’ll go ahead then,” Akane says and to her surprise, her classmate took a step behind her. Akane looked at Rika with a face full of questions, “Company,” Rika briefly said. Clearly stunned with the lack of words, Akane just shrugged it off and let her classmate follow her from the back. As they started walking down the flight of stairs, Akane felt uncomfortable knowing that Rika is just silently following her. She stopped in her tracks to face Rika, “You can walk by my side. I’d prefer that kind of company,” Akane said and the other girl obliged.

The two walked silently until Rika let out what seemed to be a whimper. Akane hummed to acknowledge that she heard it so Rika tried her best to speak a little louder, “Aoko is hungry.”

Akane closed her eyes in frustration. _Why the hell would a stuffed toy want to eat? Gosh, maybe the other kids were right when they said Berika was not in her right mind._

Pushing aside her thoughts, she tried to be more patient, “Do you want us to go to a convenience store to buy some cotton?” she jokes but Rika doesn’t seem to get it. Akane forced a smile, “You didn’t get it, did you?” she asks, and Rika shakes her head. The athlete sighs in defeat and she was about to tolerate the impending silence until Rika started to talk again, “Aoko talks for me,” she explains­–kind of. It took some time for Akane to actually get what she really meant–she’s not as bright as Neru, but she’s proud to say she’s a little better than Risa–and as soon as she realized it, she asked Rika what she wanted to eat. Rika led her to a little pastry shop around the corner near the bus stop. The sun was already setting when they finished. Akane gave out a soft ‘bye’ before walking to the bus stop but she stopped when Rika lightly held the hem of her blouse. She turned her head towards Rika and she saw the other girl looking at her with the same deer-like eyes but her face looks brighter; especially with the big smile plastered on her face.

“Thank you, Moriya,”

“Akane,” she corrects before walking away while waving her hand.

With a gentle hit in the head with a rolled-up towel, Akane came back to her senses. She rubbed the area of her head that received the blow while glaring at Risa who playfully stuck her tongue out.

“Really mature, Risa,” Akane says but Risa just shrugs, “As if it wasn’t childish to drift off to your thoughts when we all agreed to take a trip down memory lane together,” Risa says while emphasizing the last word.

The trio went on and talked with their two high school classmates. From the exchange, Risa and Neru was surprised to learn that Akane and Rika would occasionally walk home together whenever the tennis star had a practice. Rika really appreciated Akane’s patience and she took it to heart when Akane let Rika call her by her given name.

As it was getting dark, the old acquaintances bid each other goodbye. Before parting ways in front of the bakery, Neru asked which way Akane was going and, apparently, both of their apartments are close by. With that, the three decided to walk home together while they recollect some (almost) forgotten memories from high school.

For some unknown reason, Akane felt a familiar presence nearby. She turned her head and saw Yuuka running to the other side of the street ahead of them. She wonders what could have brought her here because if Akane remembers correctly, Yuuka left a few hours ago and she should be home by now.

Having her curiosity get the best of her, Akane feels her feet move by itself towards Yuuka. As soon as Akane stopped in her tracks, Yuuka probably felt a new presence beside her so she looked up from her crouched position. When Yuuka raised her head, Akane was able to see what Yuuka was holding–a weak, gray cat who has some cuts on the bottom of his ear and around his neck. Akane figures he might've been in a fight with other strays.

"You're here," Yuuka says softly her eyes slowly dropping from looking up at Akane back to the heavily-breathing cat in her arms. She starts stroking his chin; softly and gently so as not to touch his wounds.

Without a word, Akane crouched down to level with Yuuka. "He needs a home," Yuuka says and Akane hears a soft purr from the ash-colored feline.

"Can't you bring him home?" Akane says and Yuuka's shoulders drop.

"I wish I could but I already have a cat at home and Tom is too grumpy and old to actually give a new cat a warm welcome," Yuuka paused, "Pets are good company, Nen. I think he'll keep you smiling."

"Moriya," Akane coldly says, "I don't know about that. I'm not really fond of cats–especially strays."

"Give him a chance to make you change your mind?" Yuuka looked straight into Akane's eyes and suddenly the latter felt like she could never say no. Involuntarily, her head moved and it was already too late when she realized she was nodding.

Yuuka's face lit up as she reached for Akane's hands and placed the cat in the clueless girl's arms.

"I'm sure he'll forever be grateful to you. Treat him well, please?"

"I'll try."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

And with that, Yuuka got up with a smile plastered on her face as she walked away. When Yuuka was no longer in view, Akane looked down at the stray cat she is currently cradling. She slowly stood up, while treating the cat with utmost care; as if it was glass that could easily break at the smallest movements.

"Nen?" she looked over her shoulders and saw Risa and Neru walking towards her.

"What's that?" Risa asks.

"A cat."

"Obviously it is but why are you carrying it?"

"I'll bring him home."

"Really?" surprise was evident in Neru's face and tone.

Akane hummed, "He needs a home," she says before staring back at her new ~~pet~~ friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates will be slow bc i've been busy with uni pls bear with me


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